The present disclosure relates to high-speed data communication systems within or between electronic devices such as printed circuit boards, integrated circuits, and programmable logic devices. More specifically, the disclosure relates to systems and methods for data communication systems using a communication interface and programmable logic circuitry.
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present disclosure, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it may be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
Many electronic devices, such as mobile phones, computers, automotive electronic, communication systems, and industrial machinery among others, may employ complex electrical circuitry to implement certain functions. Data communication links may exchange data or command signals between this circuitry. Examples of data communication links include optical links, wire links, printed circuit board traces, and radiofrequency (RF) links. With the increase in the speeds and data processing power in electronic devices, performance specifications for the data communication links may also become more stringent, requiring higher data rates and lower latency times.
The performance of a data communication link may be measured by any number of criteria such as response time (e.g. latency), data rate, error level, or power consumption, among others. Usually, tradeoffs may appear between the different performance metrics. For example, the response time of a data communication link may be improved with an increase of power consumption of the link. In another example, an increased in data rate may be achieved, but accompanied by an increase in error level. Furthermore, the performance of the data communication link may be affected by factors such as the type of channel (optical, electrical, wireless, etc.), channel noise level, communication coding, use of error schemes, signal strength, or power employed by transmitter and/or receiver, which may also affect the relationship between the performance criteria.
In some use cases, the power consumption of the communication link plays a less important role as its impact on link performance and cost efficiency may be negligible. In these use cases, the specifications of concern in communication link design may be limited to response time and error rate. For example, mechanisms such as amplitude control, equalization, error detection, correction coding, and the use of optical links may be employed to decrease the response time over a noisy channel. However, these mechanisms may consume significant power, which may be a waste of energy for some use cases that may have less stringent specifications.